# Migration, Dynamic Social Environments, and Birth Outcomes

> **NIH NIH K01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2021 · $130,842

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Adverse birth outcomes, such as preterm birth, low birth weight, and small for gestational age, have serious
health consequences not just during infancy but across the life course. Past research shows an immigrant
advantage in birth outcomes compared to women born in the United States; however, recent studies
increasingly show that immigrant women have worse birth outcomes than non-Hispanic white women. Much
research at the intersection of migration and reproductive, maternal, and child health has focused on individual
exposures and risk factors. Yet there is growing evidence that structural factors such as migration policies are
associated with health disparities, and there is limited understanding of the process by which social and policy
environments impact individual-level maternal–fetal medicine outcomes. This K01 Mentored Research
Scientist Development Award focuses on conceptualizing this structural context and its potential impact on
women’s pregnancy and birth outcomes through pathways of structural stigma, social disadvantage, and
spatial isolation. Three proposed areas of training will allow the candidate to develop an independent research
career focused on migration and structural determinants of perinatal health: 1) perinatal epidemiology and
demography, 2) spatial and data science techniques, and 3) qualitative methods. The specific aims will be
achieved using National Center for Health Statistics period-linked infant birth–death data, the National Survey
of Family Growth, and qualitative data on immigrant experiences of social and policy environments collected
during the project period. These data will be used to carry out the following aims: 1) to examine multilevel
effects of social and policy environments on foreign and US-born women’s pregnancy and birth outcomes, 2)
to investigate area-level measures of social and policy environments and foreign and US-born women’s
pregnancy and birth outcomes, and 3) to explore immigrant women’s experiences of stress due to social and
policy environments at destination and their implications for birth outcomes. Expected outcomes are rigorous
knowledge of the impact of structural contexts on pregnancy and birth outcomes as well as health system
precursors of birth outcomes for immigrants in the US. Findings from this research can both identify immigrant
responses to social and policy environments and suggest educational and behavioral interventions that could
improve immigrant responses to structural environment stressors, access to prenatal care, and birth outcomes.
Training and insights from this project will lead to development of a large-scale R01 study extending this line of
research and will further help develop policies that promote maternal, perinatal, and child health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10298329
- **Project number:** 1K01HD103879-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Goleen Samari
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $130,842
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10298329

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10298329, Migration, Dynamic Social Environments, and Birth Outcomes (1K01HD103879-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10298329. Licensed CC0.

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